The latest statistics for burglaries shows that the numbers are falling. But they could fall further still is we all follow some simple steps. Huntingdonshire Chief Inspector Laura Hunt wants you to keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

Last month saw a slight drop in the number of burglaries reported across Huntingdonshire – down to 52 compared with 66 in November last year.

That continued a trend we had seen the previous month when break-ins were down to 48 from 50 in October 2012. While it is encouraging that there have been fewer dwelling burglaries within the district over the past two months as compared to the same period last year, nonetheless all these figures represent too many people coming home to find their homes entered, searched (sometimes untidily) and their belongings stolen.

The most common modus operandi (MO) for the burglaries is perpetrators smashing windows in rear doors and windows (sometimes using garden tools like spades) to break into homes. Burglars tend to target things like jewellery and small electrical items.

Why do I write all this? It is certainly not to increase anyone’s fear of crime. Instead, it is to encourage greater guardianship – my plea or desire is to achieve the situation where all of us work together to look out for each other to safeguard ourselves and our homes.

Burglars may often ‘stake out’ houses to work out when properties are empty, so reporting suspicious activity such as people hanging around or watching homes could help us disrupt these criminals.

Offenders are much less likely to break into homes if they think they are being watched and could be caught.

Neighbourhood Watch actively seeks to achieve this situation. Founded in this country in 1982, there are more than 300 Neighbourhood Watch schemes within Huntingdonshire. Across all of Cambridgeshire there are more than 1,800, and, while these numbers seem high, they are less than they were several years ago.

Therefore, if you want more information about Neighbourhood Watch, or, indeed, are interested to be part of such a scheme, please, please get in touch. The easiest way in which to make contact is via our e-mail address which is huntscops@cambs.pnn.police.uk.